“Don’t you call me George,” ses
George Crofts, turning on ’er. “I’ve
been done, that’s wot I’ve been.
I ’ad fourteen pounds when I was paid off, and
it’s melting like butter.”

“Well, we’ve enjoyed ourselves,”
ses Gerty, “and that’s what money was
given us for. I’m sure those two boys ’ave
had a splendid time, thanks to you. Don’t
go and spoil all by a little bit o’ temper.”

“Temper!” ses George, turning on her.
“I’ve done with you, I wouldn’t
marry you if you was the on’y gal in the world.
I wouldn’t marry you if you paid me.”

“Oh, indeed!” ses Gerty; “but if
you think you can get out of it like that you’re
mistaken. I’ve lost my young man through
you, and I’m not going to lose you too.
I’ll send my two big cousins round to see you
to-morrow.”

“They won’t put up with no nonsense, I
can tell you,” ses Mrs. Mitchell.

She called the boys to her, and then she and Gerty,
arter holding their ’eads very high and staring
at George, went off and left ’im alone.
He went straight off ’ome, counting ’is
money all the way and trying to make it more, and,
arter telling Bob ’ow he’d been treated,
and trying hard to get ’im to go shares in his
losses, packed up his things and cleared out, all
boiling over with temper.

Bob was so dazed he couldn’t make head or tail
out of it, but ’e went round to see Gerty the
first thing next morning, and she explained things
to him.

“I don’t know when I’ve enjoyed
myself so much,” she ses, wiping her eyes, “but
I’ve had enough gadding about for once, and if
you come round this evening we’ll have a nice
quiet time together looking at the furniture shops.”

OVER THE SIDE

[Illustration: “Over the Side.”]

Of all classes of men, those who follow the sea are
probably the most prone to superstition. Afloat
upon the black waste of waters, at the mercy of wind
and sea, with vast depths and strange creatures below
them, a belief in the supernatural is easier than
ashore, under the cheerful gas-lamps. Strange
stories of the sea are plentiful, and an incident
which happened within my own experience has made me
somewhat chary of dubbing a man fool or coward because
he has encountered something he cannot explain.
There are stories of the supernatural with prosaic
sequels; there are others to which the sequel has never
been published.